TITANIC-TITANIC.com | Titanic Articles: American
Ismays

BY
PHILLIP GOWAN

Upon any mention of the surname Ismay, one is likely to think of
the wealthy shipping family in England, and particularly of Titanic'sJoseph
Bruce Ismay. Descendants of the family have been prominent in England and Scotland
for centuries. But the TitanicIsmay family has American branches as well, scattered
across the fruited plain of the United States.

Joseph Bruce Ismay lived in New York City in the 1880's and was an active part in
high society there. He was to fall in love with the beautiful Julia Florence
Schieffelin, herself a society belle. The couple married at noon on December
4, 1888 in the Church of the Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue in front of what was
then termed "a fashionable assemblage." The presiding clergyman was the Rev.
Dr. Huntington of Grace Church assisted by Rev. D. Parker Morgan, Rector of the
Church of the Heavenly Rest. At the time Joseph Bruce Ismay was the local agent of the White
Star Line in that city.

From the New York Times, December 5, 1888:

"The bride wore a gown of white brocade
richly trimmed with old point lace. A veil of old point also fell over
her face, confined by a tiara of diamonds. A diamond pendant hanging
from a necklace of pearls sparkled at her throat. She carried a large
bouquet of lilies of the valley. Preceding her were the two little
maids of honour, her sisters, Miss Saide and Miss Constance Shieffelin,
who wore white silk dresses, white hats, and carried baskets of pink
roses. Two ushers were Messrs. Bond Emerson, T. J. Oakley Rhinelander,
Amory Sibley Carhart, Edward Perry, and Fleming Crooks of England. The
groom's best man was Mr. Ernest Bliss."

Following the wedding the couple
was treated to a "wedding breakfast" at
the Schieffelin family home on East Forty-Ninth Street. Many notable New
Yorkers attended the ceremony and breakfast and the couple then left for
their honeymoon.

On December 29, 1889 Bruce and Florence Ismay welcomed their first child,
daughter Margaret Bruce Ismay, born in Manhattan. Her birth was followed
by son Henry Bruce Ismay before the family left the United States to live
in England. Thus, the first two Ismay children were citizens of the United
States by birth, though later they would become British subjects. Several
more children were born in England, the last of which was George Bruce
Ismay. He was born in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, Lancashire on June 6, 1902.

In late 1925, Mr. and Mrs. William R. Edrington of New York set off on
a world tour and by the end of the year were visiting Naples. Their daughter,
Florence, left later on November 25 on the Belgenland, planning to join
her parents on their trip. It was aboard the ship that she met and quickly
became enamoured of another passenger, George Bruce Ismay. Engagement followed
quickly and the couple were married in early November of 1926. Diana Bruce
Ismay was born to them in 1932 followed by her sister, Margaret Ann Bruce
Ismay in 1934. The family lived in England when the girls were small but
life was to change when George was killed in North Africa on April 30,
1943 while serving in World War II. Following his death his widow returned
to the United States with her daughters. Florence followed a daughter to
Fort Worth, Texas and remained there until her death in 1970. Diana survived
her mother by 13 years, dying in 1983. While it seems unremarkable that
some of Bruce Ismay's descendants still live in luxury on English estates,
it is singular that others thrive on the grand prairie of
north-eastern
Texas where the luxury liners of days past are only read about in books
and seen in movies.

Joseph Bruce Ismay died in 1937 and his widow then spent many years in
England and America visiting her children, grandchildren and other relatives.
She had become a British subject after marrying but in later life felt
a desire to be repatriated with her native land. In 1949 Julia Florence
Ismay executed an Oath of Renunciation and Allegiance and surrendered her
British citizenship. She then took an Oath of Repatriation with the United
States and again became a citizen on November 14, 1949. She eventually
died in England on New Year's Eve, 1963.